Florence Thelen (1902 - 1995)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Florence's lifetime.

In 1902, in the year that Florence Thelen was born, about 150 thousand United Mine Workers went on strike in eastern Pennsylvania for a wage increase and more suitable hours. They eventually got a 10% raise and their workday was reduced from 10 hours to 9. Because winter was coming and most people at the time heated their homes with coal, President Teddy Roosevelt arbitrated between the owners and the workers - the first time that the Federal government arbitrated in a strike.

In 1916, she was merely 14 years old when in June, the U.S. Congress authorized a plan to expand the armed forces over the next five years. Called the National Defense Act of 1916, the national law expanded the National Guard and Army (the Army added an aviation unit), created the Reserves, and gave the President expanded authority to federalize the National Guard. It also allowed the government to stockpile, in advance, materiel to be used in wartime.

In 1928, she was 26 years old when Mickie Mouse was born! He first appeared in Disney's Steamboat Willie, along with Minnie. Although they were in two previous shorts, this was the first to be distributed. Steamboat Willie took advantage of the new technology and was a "talkie" - music was coordinated with the animation. It became the most popular cartoon of its day.

In 1980, when she was 78 years old, on December 8th, ex-Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in front of his home - the Dakota - in New York City. Chapman was found guilty of murder and still remains in jail.

In 1995, in the year of Florence Thelen's passing, on May 19th, the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil - before 9/11 - took place in Oklahoma City. A truck bomb went off outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown - killing 68 people, injuring more than 680 others, and destroying one-third of the building. The most disturbing images were of children - a daycare center was hit by the bomb. The deadliest incident of domestic terrorism ever, Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier were convicted of the bombing.